(1927-2010) US editor and author who also worked with the Peace Corps and as a political manager. Several of his sf novels focus on Disasters, beginning with his first, The Swarm (1974), which convincingly posits an ecological catastrophe when the African honey-bee mutates and invades North America (see Ecology; Hive Minds), eventually besieging New York. It was filmed by Irwin Allen. Partly based on fact (African bees have indeed bred with South American bees to form a large and belligerent hybrid), the novel is well researched and written, as are Earthsound (1975), in which a seismologist attempts to warn sceptical New Englanders of an approaching earthquake and is thought to be merely hysterical, and Heat (1977; rev 1989), an early attempt to deal with the greenhouse effect (see Climate Change). In later novels, Herzog moved less convincingly towards Satire. In IQ 83 (1978) an attempt to retune DNA predictably backfires, reducing the Intelligence of those treated to the titular level, and the America series – Make Us Happy (1978) and Glad to Be Here (1979) – takes him shakily into the realms of Dystopia, as Computers threaten the good life. Later works include The Village Buyers (2003), where a small town is invested, possibly by Aliens seeking a beachhead; Imortalon (2004), in which the titular RejuvenationDrug is eagerly adopted but soon discovered to have dire side-effects; and Polar Swap (2008), about the supposed threat of a reversal of the magnetic poles. Beyond Sci-Fi (coll 2007) collects previously unpublished stories. [PN/JC]

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We passed a couple of major milestones on 1st August: the SFE is now over 4.5 million words, of which John Clute’s own contribution has now exceeded 2 million. (For comparison, the 1993 second edition was 1.3 million words, and … Continue reading →

We’ve reached a couple of milestones recently. The SFE gallery of book covers now has more than 10,000 images: this one seemed appropriate for the 10,000th. Our series of slideshows of thematically linked covers has continued to grow, and Darren Nash of … Continue reading →

We’ve been talking for a while about new features to add to the SFE, and another one has gone live today: the Gallery, which collects together covers for sf books and links them back to SFE entries. To quote from … Continue reading →